Starcom's November 2023 trend report: A glimpse into dynamic cultural currents

Starcom has unveiled the Trend Report for November 2023.

This report offers a deep dive into various realms, from sports and entertainment to the world of reels and beyond, capturing the essence of modern culture.

The report covers trends across three major platforms –

1. Google and X (formerly called Twitter)
   1. 1. Cricket World Cup
   2. 2. Movies, Music and Entertainment
   3. 3. General
2. Spotify
3. Instagram
   1. 1. Reels
   2. 2. Memes

1. Google and X (formerly called Twitter)

For our major platforms- Google and Twitter, the trends could be divided into 3 major buckets:

1.  1. Cricket World Cup

With Team India winning 10 matches on the trot up until the semis of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, November saw conversations around the tourney reach a crescendo. From Virat Kohli’s 50^th tonne in ODIs to Mohd. Shami’s impressive bowling performance and Glen Maxwell’s double tonne to take Australia into the knockout stages, fans cheered on. Emotions were running high as we approached the all-important final between the home team and Australia. Even though India lost to Australia, the sentiment towards the team, and the game remained positive, with trust and joy leading from the front.

The World Cup dominated conversations with more than 2.7 billion searches followed by festivals during the week-long Diwali celebrations in the first half of November. Entertainment continued to grab people’s fancy with multiple movie trailer launches and King Khan’s birthday dominating.

India losing the final against Australia did not stop fans from cheering and encouraging the Men in Blue.

The semi-final between India and New Zealand saw netizens tweet the most, even more than during the final on November 19 as India sought revenge for the 2015 defeat it suffered at the hands of the New Zealand team, resulting in the end of the 2015 cricket world campaign for the Boys in Blue.

On Google search too, the match recorded more than 1.3 billion searches.

India versus New Zealand

Pacer Mohd. Shami garnered maximum attention from fans for his performance in the match with word combinations like “mdshami11 world cup” and “bowling mdshami11 world” being the most popular. The semi-final also brought out the nostalgia in fans with greats like Sir Viv Richards being felicitated during the match at Mumbai’s Wankhede stadium.

Fans also celebrated India’s win and the team’s performance by tweeting about it with Virat Kohli, who broke Sachin Tendulkar’s record for the most number of one-day international centuries during the match, Mohd. Shami and Rohit Sharma being the top mentions.

India versus Australia

“hard luck India”, and “one bad day” were among the most popular three-word combinations used when fans spoke about the world cup final. Viewers offered congratulations to the winning team – Australia, and commiserations to the losing team in almost equal measure.

The final of the World Cup resulted in a multitude of conversations from good luck wishes and encouragement for Team India, and congratulations for the winning team – Australia. Fans also tweeted about Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, both of whom had memorable outings during the tourney.

1.   Movies, Music, and Entertainment: Blockbusters and Celebration

November saw the buzz around Ranbir Kapoor starrer Animal intensify with the movie and its trailer getting more than 20 million search counts across the month on Google.

Tamil title Leo continued to be talked about in November with the hashtag #LeoSuccessMeet getting nearly a billion mentions on X (formerly called Twitter). The trailer for Animal had almost 200,000 mentions on the platform since its launch.

Bollywood’s ‘Badshah’ Shahrukh Khan turned a year older on November 2 and fans flocked to X (formerly called Twitter) to wish the superstar on his big day. As many as 500,000 mentions of King Khan were made during the month, and another 200,000 odd mentions were found for his December release ‘Dunki’. A song from the movie – ‘Lutt Putt Gaya’ was also a popular conversation topic.

On television, Bigg Boss ruled the charts with mentions and searches around its contestants and the events of the week dominating conversations.

Bigg Boss 17 continue to capture the fancy of viewers with Munawar Faruqui being the most talked bout inmate of the house. “bigg 17 house” was the most popular combination of words used to when talking about the show.

Other contestants who sparked conversations among fans included Ankita Lokhande and Abhishek Kumar, along with the show’s host Salman Khan.

1.3 Others: Celebrations, Rescues and Deepfakes

November continued to see Indians revel in celebrations in the first half with the start of Diwali. From buying gold on Dhan Teras, to paying homage to Maa Kali to rejoicing in the triumph of good over evil, the first two weeks of the month were all about prayer, good food, and socialising.

The second half of the month however was not as auspicious as deep fakes of celebrities like Rashmika Mandhana went viral and stirred up conversations around the new threats on digital. Many people, including authorities, got involved in the conversation to highlight the dangers of creating deep fakes and ways to counter the same.

Another unfortunate incident was the collapse of the Silkyara Tunnel in Uttarakhand on November 12 trapping 41 workers in the debris. Thus began a 17-day rescue operation, which many have hailed among India’s most challenging and dangerous operations in recent times. Rescuing those trapped involved manually digging through 55 meters of debris. All was well in the end though as each of the trapped workers in the tunnel was rescued.

2. Spotify

Ranbir Kapoor starrer Animal took the music streaming world by storm with 7 out of the top 10 played songs coming from the movie’s soundtrack. "Pehle Bhi Main” claimed the top spot with the highest number of plays followed by songs like “Arjan Vailly”, “Satranga” and “Saari Duniya Jalal Denge”.  Last week’s top tune “Tu Hai Kahan” took the fifth spot.

3.Instagram: Reels and Memes Trend

Instagram could not get enough of Animal’s song “Jamal Kudu” as the song featured on many reels with people trying to emulate actor Bobby Deol’s antics of balancing a glass on his head while grooving to the song. Netizens have posted their iteration of the song, with some experimenting with genres like the words set of a garba tune. The composition is an adaption of an Iranian song that is more than 50 years old and is a popular wedding song in Iran.

Orhan Awatramani, often seen posing with the who’s and who of Bollywood, appeared on a podcast and a snippet from it became a viral reel trend. Orry, as Awatramani is known, said “I live, I am a liver.” The snippet was used by people to describe what they did ranging from funny to sarcastic.

Cats continued to rule Instagram with multiple reels featuring the felines accompanied by funny texts or voiceovers. For example, one trend centred around what the cat in Shrodinger’s experiment could have been doing inside the box during the famous experiment. Suggestions in the reels spanned from a cat grooving to a tune to solving complex equations on the inside walls of the box.

Another trend that peaked around the end of the World Cup was the “moye moye” trend where people posted reels with an unfortunate twist set to a Punjabi song by the same name.

About the Starcom Culture Report

As the internet buzzes with a constant flow of information, understanding these nuances is the key to unlocking valuable insights. By delving into what captures their attention across social media platforms and search engines, the report captures the audience’s interests.

Ready to revolutionise your brand’s online presence? It’s time to connect with us. Let’s embark on a journey where audience insights drive innovation and engagement. Reach out to rajiv.gopinath@publicismedia.com, rudra.sen@publicisgroupe.com or urvi.malvania@publicisgroupe.com.

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